Color-Variable Terminal

ABSTRACT

A color-variable terminal includes a touchscreen, a display screen, a circuit board, and a liquid crystal light adjustment film. The touchscreen is located above the display screen. The circuit board is located below the display screen, and the circuit board includes a drive circuit. The liquid crystal light adjustment film is disposed on the touchscreen. The drive circuit is configured to apply a control voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film. The liquid crystal light adjustment film is in a transparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or the liquid crystal light adjustment film is in a non-transparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage is less than the preset threshold, and a color of the liquid crystal light adjustment film in the non-transparent state is different from a color of the display screen.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/518,974 filed on Apr. 13, 2017, which is a continuation ofInternational Patent Application No. PCT/CN2014/088535 filed on Oct. 14,2014. Both of the aforementioned patent applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to communications technologies, and inparticular, to a color-variable terminal.

BACKGROUND

Regarding current design of terminals such as a mobile phone and anIPAD, in addition to having a specific requirement on product quality ofthe terminals, some users pay increasing attention to color design ofthe terminals. Therefore, in addition to improving product quality ofthe terminals, terminal manufacturers increasingly focus on color designof the terminals. A white mobile phone is used as an example.Appearances of a display screen, a front-facing camera, and a lightsensing device are black, and other display areas are white. Anappearance of the body of the entire mobile phone is also black andwhite when the mobile phone is standby or powered off. However,appearance design of the current terminals still cannot meet terminalappearance requirements of some users.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a color-variable terminalin order to resolve a problem that terminal appearance requirements ofsome users are not met in other approaches. According to a first aspect,an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a color-variableterminal, where the terminal includes a touchscreen, a display screen, acircuit board, and a liquid crystal light adjustment film, where thetouchscreen is located above the display screen. The circuit board islocated below the display screen, and the circuit board includes a drivecircuit. The liquid crystal light adjustment film is disposed on thetouchscreen, where the drive circuit is configured to apply a controlvoltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film. The liquid crystallight adjustment film is in a transparent state when an amplitude of thecontrol voltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or theliquid crystal light adjustment film is in a non-transparent state whenan amplitude of the control voltage is less than the preset threshold,and a color of the liquid crystal light adjustment film in thenon-transparent state is different from a color of the display screen.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, the touchscreen includes a glass cover and atouch function layer, and the liquid crystal light adjustment filmdisposed on the touchscreen is disposed on an upper surface of the glasscover, on a lower surface of the touch function layer, or between theglass cover and the touch function layer.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation mannerof the first aspect, the drive circuit includes a first drive circuit,and the liquid crystal light adjustment film includes a first area,where the first area matches the display screen, and the first drivecircuit is configured to apply a control voltage to the first area. Thecircuit board further includes a central processing unit, where thecentral processing unit is configured to detect whether the displayscreen is off. The central processing unit is further configured tocontrol the first drive circuit to apply, to the first area, a controlvoltage whose amplitude is less than the preset threshold when it isdetected that the display screen is off, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold enables the first area to bein a non-transparent state, and control the first drive circuit toapply, to the first area, a control voltage whose amplitude is greaterthan or equal to the preset threshold when it is detected that thedisplay screen is on, where the control voltage whose amplitude isgreater than or equal to the preset threshold enables the first area tobe in a transparent state.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the firstaspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect,the terminal further includes a front-facing camera, where thefront-facing camera is disposed on the circuit board. The drive circuitfurther includes a second drive circuit, and the liquid crystal lightadjustment film further includes a second area, where the second areamatches the front-facing camera, and the second drive circuit isconfigured to apply a control voltage to the second area. The centralprocessing unit is further configured to receive an instruction used toturn on the front-facing camera, and control the second drive circuit toapply, to the second area, a control voltage whose amplitude is greaterthan or equal to the preset threshold after it is detected that thedisplay screen is on, where the control voltage whose amplitude isgreater than or equal to the preset threshold enables the second area tobe in a transparent state, and control the second drive circuit toapply, to the second area, a control voltage whose amplitude is lessthan the preset threshold when no instruction used to turn on thefront-facing camera is detected, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold enables the second area tobe in a non-transparent state.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the firstaspect or the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect,in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, theterminal further includes a light sensor, where the light sensor isdisposed on the circuit board. The drive circuit further includes athird drive circuit, and the liquid crystal light adjustment filmfurther includes a third area, where the third area matches the lightsensor, and the third drive circuit is configured to apply a controlvoltage to the third area. The central processing unit is furtherconfigured to receive an instruction used to turn on the light sensor,and control the third drive circuit to apply, to the third area, acontrol voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the presetthreshold after it is detected that the display screen is on, where thecontrol voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the presetthreshold enables the third area to be in a transparent state, andcontrol the third drive circuit to apply, to the third area, a controlvoltage whose amplitude is less than the preset threshold when noinstruction used to turn on the light sensor is detected, where thecontrol voltage whose amplitude is less than the preset thresholdenables the third area to be in a non-transparent state.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementationmanner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner ofthe first aspect, the terminal further includes a switch configured toreceive user input in order to generate a control signal that is used toturn on or turn off the display screen, and the circuit board furtherincludes a fourth drive circuit configured to control, according to thecontrol signal generated by the switch, the display screen to turn on orturn off, where the fourth drive circuit is electrically connected tothe switch. The fourth drive circuit applies, to the liquid crystallight adjustment film, a control voltage whose amplitude is greater thanor equal to the preset threshold when the switch generates a controlsignal that is used to control the display screen to turn on, and thefourth drive circuit applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than the presetthreshold when the switch generates a control signal that is used tocontrol the display screen to turn off.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a color-variable terminal, where the terminal includes ahousing, where the housing is partially or entirely transparent, acircuit board, where the circuit board is located inside the housing,and the circuit board includes a drive circuit, a liquid crystal lightadjustment film, where the liquid crystal light adjustment film islocated inside the housing and covers a transparent area of the housing,and a coating, where the coating is located inside the housing, and thecoating and the transparent area of the housing are respectively locatedon two sides of the liquid crystal light adjustment film, where thedrive circuit is configured to apply a control voltage to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film. The liquid crystal light adjustment filmis in a transparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage isgreater than or equal to a preset threshold, or the liquid crystal lightadjustment film is in a non-transparent state when an amplitude of thecontrol voltage is less than the preset threshold, and a color of theliquid crystal light adjustment film in the non-transparent state isdifferent from a color of the coating.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementationmanner of the second aspect, the terminal further includes a displayscreen, and the circuit board further includes a central processingunit.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect,when the central processing unit detects that the display screen is off,the central processing unit controls the drive circuit to apply, to theliquid crystal light adjustment film, a control voltage whose amplitudeis less than the preset threshold, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold enables the liquid crystallight adjustment film to be in the non-transparent state.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the secondaspect or the second possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect,when the central processing unit detects that the display screen is on,the central processing unit control the drive circuit to apply, to theliquid crystal light adjustment film, a control voltage whose amplitudeis greater than or equal to the preset threshold, where the controlvoltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset thresholdenables the liquid crystal light adjustment film to be in thetransparent state.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the secondaspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect,the central processing unit is further configured to receive an inputinstruction of a user, and control, according to the received inputinstruction, the drive circuit to apply a control voltage to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film matchinga touchscreen is disposed on the touchscreen. A drive circuit applies acontrol voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film, and theliquid crystal light adjustment film is in a transparent state when anamplitude of the applied control voltage is greater than or equal to apreset threshold, or the liquid crystal light adjustment film is in anon-transparent state when an amplitude of the applied control voltageis less than the preset threshold. Therefore, when a display screen ofthe terminal is not working, an appearance color of the display screenis different from that of a display screen that is not working in otherapproaches, thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirement of a userand improving visual experience of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure more clearly, the following briefly describes theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments. Theaccompanying drawings in the following description show some embodimentsof the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art maystill derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings withoutcreative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a white mobile phoneaccording to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a liquid crystal lightadjustment film according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a circuit board according tothe present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is another schematic diagram of a liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a white appearance effect diagram of a color-variableterminal according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is another white appearance effect diagram of a color-variableterminal according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is another white appearance effect diagram of a color-variableterminal according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS IN THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

-   11: Touchscreen;-   12: Display screen;-   13: Circuit board;-   14: Liquid crystal light adjustment film;-   15: Drive circuit;-   111: Glass cover;-   112: Touch function layer;-   151: First drive circuit;-   152: Second drive circuit;-   153: Third drive circuit;-   141: First area;-   142: Second area;-   143: Third area;-   16: Central processing unit;-   17: Front-facing camera;-   18: Light sensor;-   19: Switch;-   154: Fourth drive circuit;-   21: First transparent film;-   22: Second transparent film;-   23: ITO film;-   24: Liquid crystal layer;-   25: Third transparent film layer;-   26: Fourth transparent film;-   30: Housing; and-   31: Coating.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of theembodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the following clearly andcompletely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings in theembodiments of the present disclosure. The described embodiments aresome but not all of the embodiments of the present disclosure. All otherembodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based onthe embodiments of the present disclosure without creative efforts shallfall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

A terminal to which the embodiments of the present disclosure relate,that is, user equipment, may be a wireless terminal or may be a wiredterminal. The wireless terminal may be a device that provides a userwith connectivity for at least one of voice or data, a handheld devicethat has a wireless connection function, or another processing devicethat is connected to a wireless modem. The wireless terminal may be amobile terminal, for example, may be a portable, pocket, handheld,computer built-in, or in-vehicle mobile apparatus, which exchanges atleast one of voice or data with a radio access network. The foregoingterminal may be a mobile phone, or may be a portable computer of a user,or the like. It should be noted that the embodiments of the presentdisclosure impose no limitation on a color of a housing of the terminal.Preferably, a color of a part of the housing of the terminal may bewhite, and another part may be of another color. For example, a color ofa front housing area of a mobile phone may be white, and a color of arear housing of the terminal and a color of a side surface of a partconnecting the front housing and the rear housing may be white, or maybe another color. Reference may be made to a white mobile phone shown inFIG. 1. For ease of description of the technical solutions in thisapplication, a white mobile phone is used as an example in allsubsequent embodiments of the present disclosure.

When an existing terminal such as, the white mobile phone shown in FIG.1 is standby, a display screen 12, a front-facing camera 17, and a lightsensor 18 are all black, and another display area of a front housing iswhite. Consequently, for some users that have a high requirement on thecolor, visual experience is degraded.

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to the present disclosure. The terminal includes a touchscreen11, a display screen 12, a circuit board 13, and a liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14. The touchscreen 11 is located above the displayscreen 12. The circuit board 13 is located below the display screen 12,and the circuit board 13 includes a drive circuit 15. The liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is disposed on the touchscreen 11. The drivecircuit 15 is configured to apply a control voltage to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14. The liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14 is in a transparent state when an amplitude of the controlvoltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14 is in a non-transparent state when anamplitude of the control voltage is less than the preset threshold, anda color of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 in thenon-transparent state is different from a color of the display screen12.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the touchscreen 11 is located above thedisplay screen 12, and the circuit board 13 is located below the displayscreen 12. The terms “above” and “below” herein may be defined accordingto a coordinate system shown in FIG. 2. A coordinate value of thetouchscreen 11 on the x axis is less than a coordinate value of thedisplay screen 12 on the x axis, which indicates that the touchscreen 11is located above the display screen 12. A coordinate value of thecircuit board 13 on the x axis is greater than the coordinate value ofthe display screen 12 on the x axis, which indicates that the circuitboard 13 is located below the display screen 12. In addition, theconcepts “upper” and “lower” involved in the present disclosure may bedefined according to the coordinate system shown in FIG. 2.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 is disposed on the touchscreen 11. It should be notedthat, in FIG. 2, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is shown asa separate layer in order to display the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14 more clearly, which is merely used as an example in thisembodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a position of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 isnot limited to the position shown in FIG. 2, provided that the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14 matches the touchscreen 11. For astructure of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, reference maybe made to FIG. 3. The liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 mayinclude a first transparent film 21 and a second transparent film 22, alayer of indium tin oxide (ITO) film 23 is sputtered on two oppositesurfaces of the first transparent film 21 and the second transparentfilm 22, and a liquid crystal material is filled between the formed twolayers of ITO films 23 in order to constitute a liquid crystal layer 24.The five layers constitute the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14as a whole. It should be noted that the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14 may be integrated with the touchscreen 11, or may be separatefrom the touchscreen 11 and finally bonded to the touchscreen 11. Itshould be noted that FIG. 3 shows only an example of a positionrelationship between the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 and thetouchscreen 11.

The drive circuit 15 on the foregoing circuit board 13 in FIG. 2 appliesa control voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14.Optionally, the drive circuit 15 may determine, according to an actualoperation condition of a terminal, a value of the control voltage to beapplied to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. For example, thedrive circuit 15 may determine, according to a switching signalgenerated inside the terminal, the value of the control voltage to beapplied to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, or maydetermine, according to an instruction from a processor of the terminal,the value of the control voltage to be applied to the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14. Optionally, the control voltage may be adirect current voltage, or may be an alternating current voltage.

Optionally, when the display screen 12 of the terminal is working, thedrive circuit 15 applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustment film14, a control voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to apreset threshold, and in particular the drive circuit 15 applies thecontrol voltage to the two layers of ITO films 23 of the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14. According to the structure of the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14 shown in FIG. 3, when the amplitude ofthe control voltage applied to upper and lower layers of the ITO films23 is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, liquid crystalmolecules in the liquid crystal layer 24 of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 are regularly arranged along an electric fielddirection of the control voltage such that light can penetrate.Therefore, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in atransparent state. In this case, an appearance of the terminal is thesame as that of an existing terminal in use. When the display screen 12of the terminal is not working, the drive circuit 15 applies, to theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14, a control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold. According to the structureof the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 shown in FIG. 3, when theamplitude of the control voltage applied to the upper and lower layersof the ITO films 23 is less than the preset threshold, liquid crystalmolecules in the liquid crystal layer 24 of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 are irregularly arranged such that light is scatteredby the liquid crystal molecules that are irregularly arranged.Therefore, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in anon-transparent state, and a color of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 in the non-transparent state is different from acolor of the display screen 12. Optionally, the appearance color of theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14 in the non-transparent state iswhite. Therefore, if the white mobile phone shown in FIG. 1 is used asan example, when the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in thenon-transparent state, the appearance color of the touchscreen 11 iswhite, because the touchscreen 11 is located above the display screen12, from a perspective of a user, the appearance color of the displayscreen 12 is white, that is, when the display screen 12 of the whitemobile phone is not working, an appearance color of the entire fronthousing of the terminal is white, thereby meeting a terminal appearancerequirement of the user and improving visual experience of the user. Itshould be noted that this embodiment of the present disclosure imposesno limitation on the color of the housing of the terminal. If thehousing of the terminal is of another color, when the display screen 12of the terminal provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure isnot working, the appearance color of the display screen 12 is differentfrom that of a display screen that is not working in other approaches,thereby also improving visual experience of the user.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film matchinga touchscreen is disposed on the touchscreen. A drive circuit applies acontrol voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film, and theliquid crystal light adjustment film is in a transparent state when anamplitude of the applied control voltage is greater than or equal to apreset threshold, or the liquid crystal light adjustment film is in anon-transparent state when an amplitude of the applied control voltageis less than the preset threshold. Therefore, when a display screen ofthe terminal is not working, an appearance color of the display screenis different from that of a display screen that is not working in otherapproaches, thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirement of a userand improving visual experience of the user.

As shown in FIG. 4, the foregoing touchscreen 11 may include a glasscover 111 and a touch function layer 112. Optionally, the foregoingliquid crystal light adjustment film 14 may be disposed on an uppersurface of the glass cover 111, that is, the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 is coated or sputtered on the upper surface of theglass cover 111 as a separate layer.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 5, the foregoing liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 may also be disposed on a lower surface of the touchfunction layer 112, that is, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14is coated or sputtered on the lower surface of the touch function layer112 as a separate layer.

Optionally, shown in FIG. 6, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14may also be disposed between the glass cover 111 and the touch functionlayer 112. Optionally, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 maybe disposed between the glass cover 111 and the touch function layer 112as a separate layer, and the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 mayalso be integrated with the touchscreen 11. In the latter case, as shownin FIG. 7, the touch function layer 112 of the touchscreen 11 includesupper and lower touch sensing layers, where the upper touch sensinglayer includes a third transparent film layer 25, where a material ofthe third transparent film layer 25 may be glass, plastics, or anothermaterial, and a layer of ITO film 23 is coated on a lower surface of thethird transparent film layer 25, and the lower touch sensing layerincludes a fourth transparent film 26, where a material of the fourthtransparent film 26 may be glass, plastics, or another material, and alayer of ITO film 23 is coated on an upper surface of the fourthtransparent film 26. Therefore, only a liquid crystal material needs tobe filled between the two layers of ITO films 23, and then the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14 and the touchscreen 11 are integrated.That is, the foregoing third transparent film layer 25 is equivalent tothe first transparent film 21 of the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, the fourth transparent film 26 is equivalent to the secondtransparent film 22 of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, andthe two layers of ITO films 23 of the touch sensing layer are equivalentto the two layers of ITO films 23 of the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, that is, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 shares thetransparent film and the ITO films 23 that are of the touch sensinglayer.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the foregoing drive circuit 15includes a first drive circuit 151, and the foregoing liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 includes a first area 141, where the first area141 matches the display screen 12, and the first drive circuit 151 isconfigured to apply a control voltage to the first area 141. Theforegoing circuit board 13 further includes a central processing unit16, where the central processing unit 16 is configured to detect whetherthe display screen 12 is off. The central processing unit 16 is furtherconfigured to control the first drive circuit 151 to apply, to the firstarea 141, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than the presetthreshold when it is detected that the display screen 12 is off, wherethe control voltage whose amplitude is less than the preset thresholdenables the first area 141 to be in a non-transparent state, and thecentral processing unit 16 is further configured to control the firstdrive circuit 151 to apply, to the first area 141, a control voltagewhose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold when itis detected that the display screen 12 is on, where the control voltagewhose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold enablesthe first area 141 to be in a transparent state.

Further, the foregoing drive circuit 15 includes a first drive circuit151, and reference may be made to a structure of the circuit board 13shown in FIG. 8. The foregoing liquid crystal light adjustment film 14includes a first area 141, where the first area 141 matches the displayscreen 12, for details, reference may be made to a structure of theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14 shown in FIG. 9. The first areamay be implemented using an etching process. That is, an ITO patternmatching the display screen 12 is etched on the two layers of ITO films23 on the foregoing liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, and the ITOpattern is the first area 141. A layer of ink is coated on another part,excluding the first area 141, on the ITO film 23 on an inner surface ofthe transparent film. For the white mobile phone shown in FIG. 1, acolor of the ink is white.

When detecting that the display screen 12 is on, the central processingunit 16 controls the foregoing first drive circuit 151 to apply, to thefirst area 141, a control voltage whose amplitude is greater than orequal to the preset threshold, where the control voltage whose amplitudeis greater than or equal to the preset threshold enables the first area141 to be in the transparent state. In this case, an appearance of theterminal is the same as an appearance of an existing terminal in use.

When detecting that the display screen 12 is off, the central processingunit 16 controls the foregoing first drive circuit 151 to apply, to thefirst area 141, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than thepreset threshold, where the control voltage whose amplitude is less thanthe preset threshold enables the first area 141 to be in thenon-transparent state. A color of the first area 141 in thenon-transparent state is different from a color of the display screen12, and optionally, when the first area 141 is in the non-transparentstate, an appearance color of the first area 141 may be white.Therefore, if the white mobile phone shown in FIG. 1 is used as anexample, when the first area 141 is in the non-transparent state, theappearance color of the first area 141 is white. Because the touchscreen11 is located above the display screen 12, from a perspective of a user,an appearance of the display screen 12 is also white, that is, when thedisplay screen 12 of the white mobile phone is off, an appearance colorof the entire front housing of the terminal is white, for details,reference may be made to a white appearance effect diagram of a terminalshown in FIG. 10, thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirement ofthe user and improving visual experience of the user. It should be notedthat this embodiment of the present disclosure imposes no limitation onthe color of the housing of the terminal. If the housing of the terminalis of another color, when the display screen 12 of the terminal providedin this embodiment of the present disclosure is off, the appearancecolor of the display screen 12 is different from that of a displayscreen that is off in other approaches, thereby also improving visualexperience of the user.

It should be noted that FIG. 9 shows only an example of a positionrelationship between the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 and thetouchscreen 11. The technical solution in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is applicable to positions of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 and the touchscreen 11 in any one of the terminalstructures shown in the foregoing FIG. 4 to FIG. 7.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14matching a touchscreen 11 is disposed on the touchscreen 11, and a firstarea 141 matching a display screen is etched on an ITO film layer 23 ofthe liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. When detecting that thedisplay screen 12 is off, a central processing unit 16 controls a firstdrive circuit 151 to apply, to the first area 141, a control voltagewhose amplitude is less than a preset threshold in order to enable thefirst area 141 to be in a non-transparent state. Therefore, when thedisplay screen 12 of the terminal is off, an appearance color of thedisplay screen 12 is different from an appearance color of the displayscreen that is off in other approaches, thereby meeting a terminalappearance requirement of a user and improving visual experience of theuser.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basisof the foregoing embodiments, furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, theforegoing terminal may further include a front-facing camera 17, wherethe front-facing camera 17 is disposed on the circuit board 13. Theforegoing drive circuit 15 may further include a second drive circuit152. For details, reference may be made to FIG. 11. The liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 further includes a second area 142, where thesecond area 142 matches the front-facing camera 17. The second drivecircuit 152 is configured to apply a control voltage to the second area142. The central processing unit 16 is further configured to receive aninstruction used to turn on the front-facing camera 17, and control thesecond drive circuit 152 to apply, to the second area 142, a controlvoltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset thresholdafter it is detected that the display screen 12 is on, where the controlvoltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset thresholdenables the second area 142 to be in a transparent state. The centralprocessing unit 16 is further configured to control the second drivecircuit 152 to apply, to the second area 142, a control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold when no instruction used toturn on the front-facing camera 17 is detected, where the controlvoltage whose amplitude is less than the preset threshold enables thesecond area 142 to be in a non-transparent state.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the foregoing drive circuit 15 may furtherinclude a second drive circuit 152, in addition to the first area 141,the foregoing liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 may furtherinclude a second area 142, where the second area 142 matches thefront-facing camera 17. The second area 142 may be implemented using anetching process. That is, an ITO pattern matching the front-facingcamera 17 is etched on the two layers of ITO films 23 on the foregoingliquid crystal light adjustment film 14, and the ITO pattern is thesecond area 142. A layer of ink is coated on another part, excluding thefirst area 141 and the second area 142, on the ITO film 23 on an innersurface of the transparent film, for the white mobile phone shown inFIG. 1, a color of the ink is white.

After detecting that the display screen 12 is on, the central processingunit 16 receives an instruction to turn on the front-facing camera 17sent by the terminal. Optionally, the central processing unit 16 maydetermine whether the instruction used to turn on the front-facingcamera 17 is received by detecting whether a level value of a pinvoltage of the central processing unit 16 changes. When receiving theinstruction used to turn on the front-facing camera 17, the centralprocessing unit 16 controls the foregoing second drive circuit 152 toapply, to the second area 142, a control voltage whose amplitude isgreater than or equal to the preset threshold, where the control voltagewhose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold enablesthe second area 142 to be in the transparent state. In this case, anappearance of the terminal is the same as an appearance of an existingterminal in use.

When no instruction used to turn on the front-facing camera 17 isdetected, the central processing unit 16 controls the foregoing seconddrive circuit 152 to apply, to the second area 142, a control voltagewhose amplitude is less than the preset threshold, where the controlvoltage whose amplitude is less than the preset threshold enables thesecond area 142 to be in the non-transparent state. Optionally, when thesecond area 142 is in the non-transparent state, an appearance color ofthe second area 142 may be white. Therefore, if the white mobile phoneshown in FIG. 1 is used as an example, a transparent area is disposed ata position opposite to the front-facing camera 17 and that is on thetouchscreen 11. In other approaches, when the front-facing camera isoff, from a perspective of a user, an appearance color of thetransparent area is black. However, in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the second area 142 is actually opposite to the position ofthe transparent area, and the second area 142 and the transparent areaare of a same shape and a same size, therefore, when the second area 142is in the non-transparent state, from the perspective of the user, theappearance color of the transparent area is white. Furthermore, when thefront-facing camera 17 of the white mobile phone is off and the displayscreen 12 is off, an appearance color of the entire front housing of theterminal is white, and for details, reference may be made to a whiteappearance effect diagram of a terminal shown in FIG. 12, therebymeeting a terminal appearance requirement of the user and improvingvisual experience of the user. It should be noted that this embodimentof the present disclosure imposes no limitation on the color of thehousing of the terminal. If the housing of the terminal is of anothercolor, when the front-facing camera 17 of the terminal provided in thisembodiment of the present disclosure is off, an appearance color of atransparent area that is opposite to the front-facing camera 17 and thatis on the touchscreen 11 is different from a color of the transparentarea when the front-facing camera is off in the other approaches,thereby also improving visual experience of the user.

It should be noted that FIG. 11 shows only an example of a positionrelationship between the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 and thetouchscreen 11. The technical solution in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is applicable to positions of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 and the touchscreen 11 that are in any one of theterminal structures shown in the foregoing FIG. 4 to FIG. 7.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14matching a touchscreen 11 is disposed on the touchscreen 11, and asecond area 142 matching a front-facing camera 17 is etched on an ITOfilm layer 23 of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, when noinstruction used to turn on the front-facing camera 17 is detected, acentral processing unit 16 controls a second drive circuit 152 to apply,to the second area 142, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than apreset threshold in order to enable the second area 142 to be in anon-transparent state. Therefore, when the front-facing camera 17 of theterminal is off, an appearance color of a transparent area opposite tothe front-facing camera 17 and that is on the touchscreen 11 isdifferent from an appearance color of the transparent area when thefront-facing camera is off in other approaches, thereby meeting aterminal appearance requirement of a user and improving visualexperience of the user.

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basisof the foregoing embodiments, furthermore, as shown in FIG. 13, theforegoing terminal may further include a light sensor 18, where thelight sensor 18 is disposed on the circuit board 13. The drive circuit15 further includes a third drive circuit 153, and the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 further includes a third area 143, where thethird area 143 matches the light sensor 18, and the third drive circuit153 is configured to apply a control voltage to the third area 143. Thecentral processing unit 16 is further configured to receive aninstruction used to turn on the light sensor 18, and control the thirddrive circuit 153 to apply, to the third area 143, a control voltagewhose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold afterit is detected that the display screen 12 is on, where the controlvoltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the preset thresholdenables the third area 143 to be in a transparent state, and the centralprocessing unit 16 is further configured to control the third drivecircuit 153 to apply, to the third area 143, a control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold when no instruction used toturn on the light sensor 18 is detected, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold enables the third area 143to be in a non-transparent state.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the foregoing drive circuit 15 may furtherinclude a third drive circuit 153, in addition to the first area 141 andthe second area 142, the foregoing liquid crystal light adjustment film14 may further include a third area 143, where the third area 143matches the light sensor 18. The third area 143 may be implemented usingan etching process. That is, an ITO pattern matching the light sensor 18is etched on the two layers of ITO films 23 on the foregoing liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14, and the ITO pattern is the third area143. A layer of ink is coated on another part, excluding the first area141, the second area 142, and the third area 143, on the ITO film 23 onan inner surface of the transparent film. For the white mobile phoneshown in FIG. 1, a color of the ink is white.

After detecting that the display screen 12 is on, the central processingunit 16 receives an instruction to turn on the light sensor 18 and thatis sent by the terminal. Optionally, the central processing unit 16 maydetermine whether the instruction to turn on the light sensor 18 isreceived by detecting whether a level value of a pin voltage of thecentral processing unit 16 changes. When receiving the instruction usedto turn on the light sensor 18, the central processing unit 16 controlsthe foregoing third drive circuit 153 to apply, to the third area 143, acontrol voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to the presetthreshold, where the control voltage whose amplitude is greater than orequal to the preset threshold enables the third area 143 to be in thetransparent state. In this case, an appearance of the terminal is thesame as an appearance of an existing terminal in use.

When no instruction used to turn on the light sensor 18 is detected, thecentral processing unit 16 controls the foregoing third drive circuit153 to apply, to the third area 143, a control voltage whose amplitudeis less than the preset threshold, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold enables the third area 143to be in the non-transparent state. Optionally, when the third area 143is in the non-transparent state, an appearance color of the third area143 may be white. Therefore, if the white mobile phone shown in FIG. 1is used as an example, a transparent area is disposed at a positionopposite to the light sensor 18 on the touchscreen 11. In otherapproaches, when the light sensor is off, from a perspective of a user,an appearance color of the transparent area is black. However, in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, the third area 143 is actuallyopposite to the position of the transparent area, and the third area 143and the transparent area are of a same shape and a same size, therefore,when the third area 143 is in the non-transparent state, from theperspective of the user, the appearance color of the transparent area iswhite. Furthermore, when both the light sensor 18 and the front-facingcamera 17 of the white mobile phone are off, and the display screen 12is off, an appearance color of the entire front housing of the terminalis white, and for details, reference may be made to a white appearanceeffect diagram of a terminal shown in FIG. 14, thereby meeting aterminal appearance requirement of the user and improving visualexperience of the user. It should be noted that this embodiment of thepresent disclosure imposes no limitation on the color of the housing ofthe terminal. If the housing of the terminal is of another color, whenthe light sensor 18 of the terminal provided in this embodiment of thepresent disclosure is off, an appearance color of a transparent areaopposite to the light sensor 18 and on the touchscreen 11 is differentfrom a color of the transparent area when the light sensor is off inother approaches, thereby also improving visual experience of the user.

It should be noted that FIG. 13 shows only an example of a positionrelationship between the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 and thetouchscreen 11. The technical solution in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is applicable to positions of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 and the touchscreen 11 that are in any one of theterminal structures shown in the foregoing FIG. 4 to FIG. 7. Inaddition, the terminal shown in FIG. 13 that includes a display screen12, a front-facing camera 17, and a light sensor 18 is only an example.A structure in which a terminal includes only a display screen 12 and alight sensor 18 is not shown, but an implementation principle is similarto that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 13, and details are notdescribed herein.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14matching a touchscreen 11 is disposed on the touchscreen 11, and a thirdarea 143 matching a light sensor 18 is etched on an ITO film layer 23 ofthe liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. A central processing unit16 controls a third drive circuit 153 to apply, to the third area 143, acontrol voltage whose amplitude is less than a preset threshold in orderto enable the third area 143 to be in a non-transparent state when noinstruction used to turn on the light sensor 18 is detected. Therefore,when the light sensor 18 of the terminal is off, an appearance color ofa transparent area opposite to the light sensor 18 and on thetouchscreen 11 is different from an appearance color of the transparentarea when the light sensor is off in other approaches, thereby meeting aterminal appearance requirement of a user and improving visualexperience of the user.

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basisof the foregoing embodiments shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 7, furthermore, theforegoing terminal may further include a switch 19 configured to receiveuser input in order to generate a control signal to turn on or turn offthe display screen 12. The circuit board 13 further includes a fourthdrive circuit 154 configured to control, according to the control signalgenerated by the switch 19, the display screen 12 to turn on or turnoff, where the fourth drive circuit 154 is electrically connected to theswitch 19. The fourth drive circuit 154 applies, to the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is greaterthan or equal to the preset threshold when the switch 19 generates acontrol signal that is used to control the display screen 12 to turn on,and the fourth drive circuit 154 applies, to the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than thepreset threshold when the switch 19 generates a control signal tocontrol the display screen 12 to turn off.

Further, when receiving the user input, the switch 19 disposed on theterminal generates a control signal to control the display screen 12 toturn on or turn off, and transmits the control signal to the fourthdrive circuit 154. The fourth drive circuit 154 controls the displayscreen 12 to turn on or turn off when receiving the control signal.

When the control signal is used to turn on the display screen 12, thefourth drive circuit 154 applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal tothe preset threshold. Therefore, the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14 on the touchscreen 11 is in the transparent state. In this case,an appearance of the terminal is the same as an appearance of anexisting terminal in use.

When the control signal is used to turn off the display screen 12, thefourth drive circuit 154 applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than the presetthreshold. Therefore, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is inthe non-transparent state, a color of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 in the non-transparent state is different from acolor of the display screen 12, and optionally, when the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is in the non-transparent state, an appearancecolor of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is white.Therefore, if the white mobile phone shown in FIG. 1 is used as anexample, when the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in thenon-transparent state, the appearance color of the touchscreen 11 iswhite, because the touchscreen 11 is located above the display screen12, from a perspective of a user, the appearance color of the displayscreen 12 is white, that is, when the display screen 12 of the whitemobile phone is off, an appearance color of the entire front housing ofthe terminal is white, thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirementof the user and improving visual experience of the user. It should benoted that this embodiment of the present disclosure imposes nolimitation on the color of the housing of the terminal. If the housingof the terminal is of another color, when the display screen 12 of theterminal provided in this embodiment of the present disclosure is off,the appearance color of the display screen 12 is different from that ofa display screen that is off in other approaches, thereby also improvingvisual experience of the user.

It should be noted that FIG. 15 shows only an example of a positionrelationship between the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 and thetouchscreen 11. The technical solution in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure is applicable to positions of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 and the touchscreen 11 in any one of the terminalstructures shown in the foregoing FIG. 4 to FIG. 7.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a switch 19 to control a display screen 12 toturn on or turn off is disposed on the terminal, and the switch 19 iselectrically connected to a fourth drive circuit 154. The fourth drivecircuit 154 applies, to a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, acontrol voltage that is less than a preset threshold when a controlsignal generated by the foregoing switch 19 to control the display 12 toturn off such that the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in anon-transparent state. Therefore, when a display screen 12 of theterminal is off, an appearance color of the display screen 12 isdifferent from that of a display screen that is off in other approaches,thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirement of a user andimproving visual experience of the user.

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown inFIG. 16, the terminal includes a housing 30, where the housing 30 ispartially or entirely transparent, a circuit board 13, where the circuitboard 13 is located inside the housing 30, and the circuit board 13includes a drive circuit 15, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14,where the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is located inside thehousing 30 and covers a transparent area of the housing 30, and acoating 31, where the coating 31 is located inside the housing 30, andthe coating 31 and the transparent area of the housing 30 arerespectively located on two sides of the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14. The drive circuit 15 is configured to apply a control voltageto the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. The liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 is in a transparent state when an amplitude of thecontrol voltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in a non-transparent statewhen an amplitude of the control voltage is less than the presetthreshold, and a color of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 inthe non-transparent state is different from a color of the coating 31.

Further, the housing 30 of the terminal in this embodiment of thepresent disclosure is entirely transparent or partially transparent, andthe housing 30 may be a rear housing of the terminal or a housingsurrounding four sides of a body of the terminal. The liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is disposed inside the housing 30, and for astructure of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, reference maybe made to the structure shown in FIG. 3. The liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 covers a transparent area of the housing 30, thecoating 31 is further disposed inside the housing 30, and the coating 31and the transparent area of the housing 30 are respectively located ontwo sides of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. According to acoordinate system shown in FIG. 16, the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14 is disposed on a left side of the housing 30, and the coating 31is disposed on a left side of the liquid crystal light adjustment film14.

The drive circuit 15 on the foregoing circuit board 13 is used to applya control voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14.Optionally, the drive circuit 15 may determine, according to an actualoperation condition of a terminal, a value of the control voltage to beapplied to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14. For example, thedrive circuit 15 may determine, according to a switching signalgenerated inside the terminal, the value of the control voltage to beapplied to the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14, or maydetermine, according to an instruction from a processor of the terminal,the value of the control voltage to be applied to the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14, or the drive circuit 15 may determine thevalue of the control voltage by detecting a level of a device in acircuit. Optionally, the control voltage may be a direct currentvoltage, or may be an alternating current voltage.

When the drive circuit applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal to apreset threshold, and in particular the drive circuit applies thecontrol voltage to the two layers of ITO films 23 of the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14. According to the structure of the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14 shown in FIG. 3, when the amplitude ofthe control voltage applied to the upper and lower layers of the ITOfilms 23 is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, liquidcrystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer 24 of the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 are regularly arranged along an electric fielddirection of the control voltage such that light can penetrate.Therefore, the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in atransparent state. In this case, an appearance color of the terminal ofthe coating 31 inside the housing 30.

When the drive circuit applies, to the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than the presetthreshold, according to the structure of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 shown in FIG. 3, when the amplitude of the controlvoltage applied to the upper and lower layers of the ITO films 23 isless than the preset threshold, liquid crystal molecules in the liquidcrystal layer 24 of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 areirregularly arranged such that light is scattered by the liquid crystalmolecules that are irregularly arranged. Therefore, the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is in a non-transparent state, and a color ofthe liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 in the non-transparent stateis different from a color of the coating 31. Optionally, the appearancecolor of the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 in thenon-transparent state is white, that is, an appearance color of thetransparent area of the entire housing 30 of the terminal is white. Thatis, according to the terminal provided in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a color of the housing 30 of the terminal may change betweenthe color of the coating 31 and white at any time, thereby meeting aterminal appearance requirement of a user and improving visualexperience of the user.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 isdisposed inside a housing 30 of the terminal, and the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is disposed between a coating 31 and thehousing 30. A drive circuit 15 applies a control voltage to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14, and the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14 is in a transparent state when an amplitude of theapplied control voltage is greater than or equal to a preset threshold,or the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 is in a non-transparentstate when an amplitude of the applied control voltage is less than thepreset threshold. Therefore, the color of the housing 30 of the terminalmay change at any time, thereby meeting a terminal appearancerequirement of a user and improving visual experience of the user.

FIG. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a color-variable terminalaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure. On the basisof the embodiment shown in FIG. 16, the terminal may further include adisplay screen 12, and the foregoing circuit board 13 further includes acentral processing unit 16.

As a possible implementation manner of this embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the terminal may, using the central processing unit 16,detect an on/off state of the display screen 12, and determine a valueof a control voltage to be applied, by a drive circuit 15, to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14. When the central processing unit 16detects that the display screen 12 is off, the central processing unit16 controls a drive circuit 15 to apply, to the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14, a control voltage whose amplitude is less than apreset threshold, where the control voltage whose amplitude is less thana preset threshold enables the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14to be in a non-transparent state. When the central processing unit 16detects that the display screen 12 is on, the central processing unit 16controls the drive circuit 15 to apply, to a control voltage whoseamplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold, to theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14, where the control voltage whoseamplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold enables theliquid crystal light adjustment film 14 to be in a transparent state.

As another possible implementation manner of this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the central processing unit 16 on the terminal mayalso control, according to a received input instruction of a user, theforegoing drive circuit 15 to apply a control voltage to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film 14.

According to the color-variable terminal provided in this embodiment ofthe present disclosure, a liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 isdisposed inside a housing 30 of the terminal, and the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is disposed between a coating 31 and thehousing 30. A drive circuit 15 applies, under the control of a centralprocessing unit 16, a control voltage to the liquid crystal lightadjustment film 14, and the liquid crystal light adjustment film 14 isin a transparent state when an amplitude of the applied control voltageis greater than or equal to a preset threshold, or the liquid crystallight adjustment film 14 is in a non-transparent state when an amplitudeof the applied control voltage is less than the preset threshold.Therefore, the color of the housing 30 of the terminal may change at anytime, thereby meeting a terminal appearance requirement of a user andimproving visual experience of the user.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe steps of the method embodiments may be implemented by a programinstructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium. The steps of the method embodiments areperformed when the program runs. The foregoing storage medium includesany medium that can store program code, such as a read-only memory(ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an opticaldisc.

Finally, it should be noted that the foregoing embodiments are merelyintended for describing the technical solutions of the presentdisclosure, but not for limiting the present disclosure. Although thepresent disclosure is described in detail with reference to theforegoing embodiments, persons of ordinary skill in the art shouldunderstand that they may still make modifications to the technicalsolutions described in the foregoing embodiments or make equivalentreplacements to some or all technical features thereof, withoutdeparting from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodimentsof the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A color-variable terminal, comprising: a housingthat is partially transparent or entirely transparent; a liquid crystallight adjustment film located inside the housing and covering atransparent area of the housing, the terminal being configured to applya control voltage to the liquid crystal light adjustment film, theliquid crystal light adjustment film being in a transparent state whenan amplitude of the control voltage is greater than or equal to a presetthreshold, and the liquid crystal light adjustment film being in anon-transparent state when the amplitude of the control voltage is lessthan the preset threshold; and a coating located inside the housing, thecoating and the transparent area of the housing are respectively locatedon two sides of the liquid crystal light adjustment film, a color of theliquid crystal light adjustment film in the non-transparent state beingdifferent from a color of the coating.
 2. The terminal according toclaim 1, wherein the terminal is configured to apply, to the liquidcrystal light adjustment film, the control voltage when receiving aninput instruction of a user.
 3. The terminal according to claim 1,further comprising a display screen, the terminal being configured toapply, to the liquid crystal light adjustment film, the control voltagewhose amplitude is less than the preset threshold when detecting thatthe display screen is off.
 4. The terminal according to claim 1, furthercomprising a display screen, the terminal being configured to apply, tothe liquid crystal light adjustment film, the control voltage whoseamplitude is greater than or equal to the preset threshold whendetecting that the display screen is on.
 5. The terminal according toclaim 1, wherein the color of the liquid crystal light adjustment filmin the non-transparent state is a same color as a part of the housingthat is non-transparent.
 6. The terminal according to claim 1, whereinthe housing comprises a rear housing of the terminal.
 7. The terminalaccording to claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a housingsurrounding four sides of a body of the terminal.
 8. The terminalaccording to claim 1, wherein the color of the liquid crystal lightadjustment film in the non-transparent state comprises white.
 9. Theterminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal comprises a mobilephone.
 10. A color-variable terminal, comprising: a touchscreen; adisplay screen located below the touch screen; and a liquid crystallight adjustment film disposed on the touchscreen, the terminal beingconfigured to apply a control voltage to the liquid crystal lightadjustment film, the liquid crystal light adjustment film being in atransparent state when an amplitude of the control voltage is greaterthan or equal to a preset threshold, the liquid crystal light adjustmentfilm being in a non-transparent state when the amplitude of the controlvoltage is less than the preset threshold, and a color of the liquidcrystal light adjustment film in the non-transparent state is a samecolor as a front housing of the terminal.
 11. The terminal according toclaim 10, wherein a color of a rear housing of the terminal is a samecolor as the front housing of the terminal, and a color of a sidesurface of a part coupling the front housing and the rear housing is thesame color as the front housing of the terminal.
 12. The terminalaccording to claim 10, wherein the color of the front housing compriseswhite.
 13. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein the terminal isconfigured to apply the control voltage to the liquid crystal lightadjustment film when receiving an input instruction of a user.
 14. Theterminal according to claim 10, wherein the liquid crystal lightadjustment film comprises a first area, the first area matches thedisplay screen, and the terminal is configured to apply, to the firstarea, the control voltage whose amplitude is less than the presetthreshold when detecting that the display screen is off.
 15. Theterminal according to claim 10, wherein the liquid crystal lightadjustment film comprises a first area, the first area matches thedisplay screen, and the terminal is configured to apply, to the firstarea, the control voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal tothe preset threshold when detecting that the display screen is on. 16.The terminal according to claim 10, further comprising a front-facingcamera, the liquid crystal light adjustment film comprising a secondarea, the second area matching the front-facing camera, and the terminalbeing configured to apply, to the second area, the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold when detecting that thefront-facing camera is turned off.
 17. The terminal according to claim10, further comprising a front-facing camera, the liquid crystal lightadjustment film comprising a second area, the second area matching thefront-facing camera, and the terminal being configured to apply, to thesecond area, the control voltage whose amplitude is greater than orequal to the preset threshold when detecting that the front-facingcamera is turned on.
 18. The terminal according to claim 10, furthercomprising a light sensor, the liquid crystal light adjustment filmcomprising a third area, the third area matching the light sensor, andthe terminal being configured to apply, to the third area, the controlvoltage whose amplitude is less than the preset threshold when detectingthat the light sensor is turned off.
 19. The terminal according to claim10, further comprising a light sensor, the liquid crystal lightadjustment film comprising a third area, the third area matching thelight sensor, and the terminal being configured to apply, to the thirdarea, the control voltage whose amplitude is greater than or equal tothe preset threshold when detecting that the light sensor is turned on.20. The terminal according to claim 10, further comprising afront-facing camera and a light sensor, the liquid crystal lightadjustment film matching the display screen, the front-facing camera,and the light sensor, and the terminal being configured to apply, to theliquid crystal light adjustment film, the control voltage whoseamplitude is less than the preset threshold when detecting that thedisplay screen is off, the front-facing camera is turned off, and thelight sensor is turned off.